When John Paxson first took over as Bulls general manager in 2003, he mentioned an early piece of advice he received from a more experienced colleague: “Never trade an established player for a nonestablished player.”

Paxson has given way to Gar Forman, but surely that advice has been passed along in the Berto Center board room.

So why would the Bulls even think about trying to trade Luol Deng for a high draft pick?

That does appear to be one of the strategies under consideration right now, league sources confirmed. A draft camp meeting with North Carolina forward Harrison Barnes was mentioned on the team’s website, but there’s probably no single target.

And yes, it does seem odd that Deng would go from leading the NBA in minutes per game to trade bait. That can be explained, however.

The Bulls are disappointed Deng is planning to wait until after the London Olympics to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist. Really, though, missing the first month or two of next season is irrelevant in the long run.

The Bulls have plenty of love for Deng. The issue here is being backed up against the luxury tax and trying to create flexibility for the future.

Next season, Deng, Derrick Rose, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah will make roughly $56 million combined. If those four could lead the Bulls to the NBA Finals, there would be no problems. Even forgetting about how injuries might spoil next season, the team’s greatest strengths the past two years were Rose and depth.

The Bulls will have to ditch the depth unless they can move one of the high-salaried players. Rose is going nowhere, obviously, and there’s virtually no interest around the league in Boozer. Of the other two players, Noah is arguably tougher to replace as a mobile 7-footer who can anchor the defense.

So that leaves Deng as the best candidate to be shopped. A trade is no sure thing, since Deng has two more years left on his contract at a hefty $27.6 million and could miss the start of next season.

The ideal trading partner would be a team with cap space and a roster full of young players who could benefit from Deng’s veteran presence. Minnesota is a nice fit, but the Timberwolves traded away their lottery pick long ago.

Golden State, with No. 7 selection, could use a player with Deng’s winning history. The problem is, the Warriors already have four high-priced players in Andrew Bogut, David Lee, Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins, with an extension for Stephen Curry coming in a year or two.

Toronto, picking No. 8, might be interested. The Raptors have cap room, but they haven’t been able to lure many free agents to Canada in the past, so trading for Deng could make sense. In 2004, the year Deng was in the draft, Dallas got the No. 5 pick in exchange for Antawn Jamison. It doesn’t seem likely the Bulls could get a pick that high this summer.

There is no shortage of teams to engage — Sacramento at No. 5, New Orleans at 10, Milwaukee at 12, Portland with sixth and 11th picks. Besides Barnes, the Bulls could target a shooting guard such as Duke’s Austin Rivers, Connecticut’s Jeremy Lamb or Syracuse’s Dion Waiters.

The whole point is creating flexibility to make more moves in the near future, without paying the luxury tax for a team that may struggle to make the playoffs.

Trading Deng for a draft pick is by no means the only option being considered this summer. But it does show that Forman won’t be content just waiting for Rose to recover. The plan is to retool the roster and hope the team is better equipped to reach the Finals when Rose returns to his old form.

HOUSTON -- Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng revealed this weekend that he will not be surprised if the team trades him this offseason.

While at training camp in Texas with Great Britain's national team preparing for the London Olympics, Deng said he does not believe the Bulls are shopping him in retaliation for his decision to delay the wrist surgery he needs until after the Games.

But Deng, 27, did acknowledge that he's not dismissing recent reports suggesting the Bulls are willing to trade him for a top pick in Thursday's NBA draft, with speculation mounting that Chicago could send Deng to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for the No. 7 overall pick.

Former NBA guard Speedy Claxton, now a scout for the Warriors, attended Britain's practice at the Toyota Center on Sunday afternoon.

"I believe there is always to some extent truth behind rumors," Deng said. "But as an athlete, if you get caught up in them, you are really wasting your time because it's not something you can control.

"If it's not true, a GM could always come out and say it's not true. But if a GM doesn't come out and say it, there are probably talks. And there should be. If I was a GM I would be shopping players around, too. I've got to show that I'm doing something.

"A lot of GMs don't just sit there, they're trying their options. Me, I always say there are two things when trades happen -- if I was to be let go by a team and nobody picks me up, that's probably the worst thing. But whenever you hear your name in a trade, that means there is somebody at the other end who wants you.

"As much as I want to stay on the team -- I love Chicago, I love the Bulls -- at the same time, I know the business part of it. Sooner or later, all the rumors are going to come up."

The apparent unease between the team and Deng stems from the end of the Bulls' season when, following their first-round playoff exit to the Philadelphia 76ers, Deng insisted he would not alter his long-held plans to represent Britain, the country that granted his family political asylum from the Sudan, in the Olympics.

Deng, who was raised from the age of 10 in London, had been carrying a wrist ligament injury for much of the season, yet still led the league in minutes with 39.4 per game.

However, Bulls management told Deng it would have preferred him to miss the Olympics -- the first in which Britain will enter a basketball team since 1948 -- in order to undergo surgery that would ensure his health for the start of the 2012-13 NBA season.

In a tense exit interview before Deng left Chicago, he told Bulls management that he would not entertain the prospect of missing out on the Games and presented an argument that he might not, in any case, require surgery before the start of the season.

Deng, though, does not believe the Bulls have acted in response to his stance.

"I don't think so," he said. "Me and (coach Tom Thibodeau) have a very close relationship. I spoke to (GM) Gar (Forman), I spoke to (VP of basketball operations John) Paxson, and it's one of those things you don't want to bring up.

"He's doing his job. As much as I'm playing basketball, working out, I'm doing my job. You just let it be. If it's going on, it's going on. At the end of the day there are no hard feelings and I'm not a 21-year-old kid who will get upset by it. I understand the game.

"I wouldn't want me to play (in the Olympics) either. Pax is an athlete and, as an athlete who used to play, Pax understands me wanting to play. But as a GM that's his job to try and get the team healthy and get the team ready for next year. I understand both sides to it.

"But it comes down to an injury that happened at the wrong time. I just try to let people know I'm going to be OK."

The first decent NBA Draft trade rumble of the week involves an All-Star who's no stranger to the speculation game.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that the Chicago Bulls, in their latest attempt to gauge the trade value of All-Star swingman Luol Deng, have had exploratory discussions with Washington about a deal that would land Deng with the Wizards and bring the No. 3 pick in Thursday's draft to the Bulls.

The most likely trade construction, if talks were to progress to the serious stage, would send Deng to the Wizards for the No. 3 pick and center Emeka Okafor, who would have to formally opt into his contract for next season ($14.5 million) this week for the trade to go through.

Yet it's worth noting that Cleveland, sources say, has interest in Deng as well ... and there will surely be other potential trade partners to surface if the Bulls decide they're legitimately ready to part with Deng after years of flirting with the idea.

The Chicago Bulls are receiving inquiries about the availability of Luol Deng and he has come to accept the possibility of a move.

“Maybe some guys dwell on that or would be bothered by it, but, honestly, I really don’t care,’’ Deng said. “I know that I want to be here. I’ve always wanted to be here.

‘‘But I’m mature enough to understand that I can’t worry about things I can’t control. If I wake up tomorrow, they call me and they tell me otherwise, then that’s what it is. I can’t control that. That’s their job, and they’ve got to do their job. That’s a decision they have to make on what they feel is best for the team.’’

The Bulls and Deng were upwards of $5 million per season apart on an extension before breaking off talks.

The Bulls have reportedly decided they will try to re-sign Deng in free agency.

“I’ve moved around a lot, but this is the longest I’ve been in one place my whole life and I came here at 19," Deng said. "I’m 28 now. I pretty much grew up here. So for me to think about being somewhere else, it’s a weird feeling. But at the same time, I don’t know what it’s like to be somewhere else. I’ve been here my whole career. Maybe it’s better, maybe it’s not. I don’t know that. The best thing I can do is play, be the best I can be and hope it works out. I don’t know if it will be here, if it will be somewhere else. I don’t know that.

"But right now, I can’t hang on to that. I can’t control that. I think when the season’s over and everything is done, then you sit down and you go through that stuff. But for me to think about it now, it’s just a waste of energy because I don’t even know — what am I supposed to think about? I don’t know what city. So it’s just a waste of time.”